Librarian
LibKey Nomad
Oxford Bibliographies Online
Oxford Bibliographies: Atlantic HistoryDetailed bibliographies on a wide range of topics. Written by scholars. Includes references to primary sources.If the source you need is available in print only, search for the title in Catalyst.
Primary Source Analysis
Open up questions rather than to come up with answers! What kinds of questions can you explore with the source you have? How does your source fit into the themes you've explored, particularly using a theoretical frameworks as a guide? Use the following questions to help guide your description of your primary source (derived from Mary Lynn Rampolla, A Pocket Guide to Writing in History):
- Who is the author?
- When was the source composed?
- What is the historical context in which the source was written and read?
- Who was the intended audience?
- Why did he or she write (create) the source? (Persuasion, description, factual, etc) What is the author teaching you?
- Was the original text commissioned by anyone, or published by a press with a particular viewpoint?
- How does the author’s gender, race, class, ethnicity, language group, and (if relevant) national identity compare to the people about whom they are writing?
- What unspoken assumptions does the text contain?
- What biases are detectable in the source?
- Are there other contemporary sources to compare against this one, especially from the syllabus?
A Pocket Guide to Writing in History (8th ed.) by Call Number: REFERENCE D13 .R295 2015ISBN: 9781457690884Publication Date: 2015-01-16Availability and more information from Catalyst...
Really practical tips about how to think about primary and secondary sources when researching and writing!
Reference sources
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas by Call Number: ONLINE and REF CB9.N59 2005"From abolitionism to Zionism, this encyclopedia clarifies the intellectual history of more than 750 complex ideas of concern to people today. Like its classic predecessor, the Dictionary of the History of Ideas (1973), this new set covers core Western ideas, while expanding its coverage to include the 'global perspectives and gender-inclusive' concepts that have evolved in the past 30 years. Reader's guides, cross-references, sidebars, and an index aid the reader in understanding the way ideas combine with other ideas."--"Reference that rocks," American Libraries, May 2005.
Oxford encyclopedia of American social history by Call Number: ONLINEISBN: 9780199743377Publication Date: [2012]This encyclopedia's substantial topical essays and accompanying bibliographies provide an excellent starting point for research in American social history. Examines the history of ordinary Americans.
Encyclopedia of European Social History from 1350 to 2000 by Call Number: Ref HN373 .E63 2001 v.1 - 6Availability and more information from Catalyst...
An outstanding source of historiographical essays and factual articles on European social history; most longer essays have excellent bibliographies. v. 1. Methods and theoretical approaches -- The periods of social history -- Regions, nations, and peoples -- Europe and the world -- v. 2. Processes of social change -- Population and geography -- Cities and urbanization -- Rural life -- State and society -- v. 3. Social structure -- Social protest -- Deviance, crime, and social control -- Social problems and social reform -- v. 4. Gender -- The family and age groups -- Sexuality -- Body and mind -- Work -- v. 5. Culture and popular culture -- Modern recreation and leisure -- Religion -- Education and literacy -- Everyday life -- v. 6. Biographies
- Oxford African American Studies Center This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
(Searches through citations and the full text)
A comprehensive collection of scholarship that focuses on the lives and events which have shaped African American and African history and culture. Contains scholarly articles, reference works, primary sources, timelines, biographies, images, maps, charts and tables, and film clips, among many other things.
